It’s been a long six weeks since the European Central Bank’s last policy meeting on June 3. In that time Greece’s debt crisis escalated, reached a boiling point before Athens struck an 11th-hour deal with its creditors for fresh financing. The ECB has played a central role. Here are five things to watch at its July press conference on Thursday. Read More »

A paper published Tuesday by the ECB examined the effect that bullish, or bearish, aspects of Twitter content and Google searches has on overall investor sentiment and, finally stock markets. Read More »

Once a theoretical fear of euro-pessimists, Grexit—a Greek exit from the eurozone—may be soon upon us. The euro was designed to be an irrevocable currency; there is no procedure in its rules or treaties for a country to stop using it. So precisely what would happen is highly speculative. But let’s speculate. Read More »

The Federal Reserve should wait until the middle of 2016 to start raising short-term interest rates from near zero to ensure the economy is on a firmer footing and inflation is returning to the central bank’s 2% target after undershooting it for more than three years. That’s the message from a new working paper from the International Monetary Fund. Read More »

China’s central bank over the weekend pulled a surprise move, cutting the benchmark lending and deposit rates and reducing the amount of funds some banks are required to hold in reserve. Here are some questions about the move. Read More »

Unlike his last outing, Mario Draghi’s latest news conference passed without protest. But it was a little more substantial than many had expected. Rather than just repeat that the central bank intends to complete its program of bond purchases, Mr. Draghi said it would be prepared to buy more over a longer period if that were necessary. The clear and very strong message is that an early end to the program is very unlikely, and its extension can’t be ruled out. Here highlights from the presser. Read More »

What happens in the U.S. doesn’t always stay in the U.S. when it comes to monetary policy. But emerging economies may be better positioned to weather spillovers from the Federal Reserve’s actions if they start out on a strong foundation, according to a recent analysis by central bank economists. Read More »

The Bank of England is drawing up plans to examine the effect on Britain’s financial sector of a possible U.K. exit from the European Union, the Guardian newspaper reported Friday–citing an email accidentally sent to one of its editors by a BOE official. Read More »

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